Aberthin is a small village on the A422, approximately a mile north east of Cowbridge. It is intersected by Nant Aberthin, which flows westwards through the village. The first edition of the 25inch OS maps, published in 1878, depicts a fairly small rural community with four principal buildings. These were the Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NPRN 9236) which was originally built in 1749, the Great House on the eastern edge of the village (NPRN 18844) which dates from the sixteenth or seventeenth century and had its own brewery, and two public houses - the Hare and Hounds (NPRN 414412) which dates from the seventeenth century, and the Farmers Arms. Little had changed when the second edition of the OS maps was published in 1899, although a new brewery had been built next to the Farmers Arms.
An article from the South Wales Echo published in July 1973 (quoted on the Aberthin Village Hall website), described Aberthin as 'a village of considerable antiquity and is presumed to be the site of Villa Fratus mentioned in the earliest of local records, the Book of Llandaff, though no remains of this early religious house have been positively identified. [...] Village buildings are predominately colour-washed with slate roofs and illustrate a range of vernacular domestic design since Tudor times. The village is set in a picturesque steep-sided valley at the foot of Stalling Down. From the valley mouth where it opens on to Newton Moor, the village was first developed along a stream, Nant Aberthin, and later on the lower slopes of Stalling Down. The stream, flowing in an open green before a terrace of late 18th century houses, is an attractive element in the village scene.'
The village has remained largely the same in the twenty-first century, although more houses have been built to the north. Both the Farmers Arms and the Hare and Hounds remain open as public houses, and although the Methodist chapel closed as a place of worship in 1993, it has remained open as a village hall.
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; google maps; Coflein database; www.aberthin.org
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 22nd February 2019